Tag Archives: Boys

“My seven-year-old son turned to me and asked, “Why is he crying, Mum?” to which my 12-year-old answered, “because he just lost his best mate”. This made my heart sing a little because to a child, their instant reaction was to simply accept that this man was grieving and that there was no shame in him doing so, so publicly.”

I’ve been having trouble keeping my patience with the ongoing outpourings about the death of Phillip Hughes, a young cricketer on the Australian Cricket team who was tragically and fatally hit in the head with a ball. Don’t get me wrong – I love cricket, and it is terribly sad that he died. But there are many terrible things happening in the world, and many people dying of causes that we can, and should, do something about, but which we collectively do not.

But at times like these, I think what is happening, in part, is that we are getting the chance to feel grief about many things, things which are not, in the normal course of things, acceptable to show grief about.

And the truly wonderful thing about this public mourning is that it is the men who have been leading the way.